Obama casts Romney as 'outsourcing pioneer'

If there was any doubt that Mitt Romney's business record would be an election issue, President Obama's team is erasing it this weekend.

Obama and aides are jumping on a news report that Romney's former private-equity firm, Bain Capital, invested in companies that shipped jobs overseas.

"It was reported in The Washington Post that the companies his firm owned were 'pioneers' n the outsourcing of American jobs to places like China and India," Obama told backers Friday in Tampa.

"Pioneers," Obama scoffed. "Let me tell you, Tampa, we do not need an outsourcing pioneer in the Oval Office -- we need a president who will fight for American jobs and fight for American manufacturing."

This morning, Obama aides are e-mailing around a New York Times story that Bain collected big advisory fees from an automotive plastics company even as it headed toward bankruptcy.

While some Democrats have raised questions about the wisdom of attacking private equity, don't expect Obama and company to back off. Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod has taken to saying that Romney wants to be "outsourcer-in-chief."

Obama figures to continue arguing that the private-equity business is poor preparation for the presidency because it focuses more on making profits for investors than in creating jobs for the middle class.

Romney and aides say Obama's attacks reflect an anti-business attitude, a poor understanding of how the private sector works, and a desire to deflect attention from his own record.

"President Obama continues to use false and discredited attacks to divert attention from his abysmal economic record. As affirmed by prominent Democrats like President (Bill) Clinton, Mitt Romney had a 'sterling' business career.

He has a decades-long record of job creation, both in the private sector and as governor, when the unemployment rate in Massachusetts fell to 4.7% on his watch. If President Obama had even half of Mitt Romney's record on jobs, he'd be running on it.

But President Obama has the worst record on jobs and the economy of any president in modern history, which is why he is running a campaign based on distractions, not solutions."

Romney's single term as governor of Massachusetts will also receive attention. But his pre-political record is likely to be scrutinized in way that is unusual in presidential elections.

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About David Jackson

David's journalism career spans three decades, including coverage of five presidential elections, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2000 Florida presidential recount and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the White House for USA TODAY since 2005. His interests include history, politics, books, movies and college football -- not necessarily in that order. More about David